Another Story
by AnitaECross
Summary: It appeared to be the end when Klaus and Elijah stabbed each other with the remaining white oak stake, but the truth is that another story was just about to begin.


The very first thought that popped into Klaus' mind after being staked was that the afterlife looked very much like the Salvatore house in Mystic Falls. His second thought was that he felt strangely alive, as though he'd never had half that remaining white oak stake shoved brutally into his heart. Nor could he remember the burning sensation in his hand as he'd returned the favor by forcing the other half through the chest of his own brother…

"Elijah," he breathed, pushing himself off the couch he'd been laying upon. Surely his brother was somewhere nearby? They had, after all, departed the world of the living together.

A sudden feeling he couldn't name overwhelmed him.

"Elijah!"

Frantic footsteps, then, somewhere close by. It was followed by a familiar voice, one he thought he'd left behind…

"Klaus! Students are sleeping! _Try_ to keep your voice down!"

He stared at her, the blonde, blue-eyed beauty that, only a short time before, he'd believed he'd seen for the very last time.

"Caroline. I…"

He saw several emotions float through her eyes: sadness, pain, uncertainty. Something must have happened, then, something tragic…

"Caroline," he said slowly, "where is my daughter?" Concern for Hope made his voice begin to rise again.

She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off almost immediately.

"Dad!"

There she was, her honey colored hair flying behind her as she dashed towards him. Her bright blue eyes were sparkling with unshed tears, but he only saw them for a moment before her arms were around him, her face buried against his chest. He felt warmth flood through him, relief and…

"I love you, Hope," he told her fiercely, wanting with all his heart to make sure she knew.

Klaus felt Hope squeeze him even more tightly. "I love you, too."

He held her for a minute, wishing that small moment could span a lifetime. Suspicion still toyed at him, though, so he pulled away, remembering how fiercely that stake had burned his heart, had felt so real… How was he still alive?

"I died," he said simply.

Klaus watched as Hope and Caroline exchanged worried glances. There was uncertainty in both their eyes now…

"Tell me what happened," Klaus demanded in a low growl.

"First of all, you need to calm down," Caroline ordered, pointing her finger at him and giving him a stern look. "What we're going to tell you won't be easy to hear…and, well, we don't need your temper to flare up."

He glanced at Hope, whose eyes still held a trace of doubt. About him, he realized suddenly as Caroline's words sank in. They were both afraid of how he might react. But he didn't want that, not at all. If there were two people in the world he never wanted to frighten, it was the two women standing before him now…

"I'm calm," he said softly, meeting first Caroline's gaze and then his daughter's.

"Dad," Hope began tentatively, "Elijah…took your place."

A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach…and yet a part of him had already known what they were going to tell him. He just couldn't connect the dots…

"How? The twins put the magic in me… We went back to New Orleans and Elijah and I…"

"You must have been hallucinating from the magic…I snapped your neck," Hope told him. "Elijah and I found Caroline and begged her to have the twins move the magic from you to him, and then he took the white oak stake and… I'm sorry, Dad. But he said…he wanted to see mom again. He said he was ready."

"He wanted me to give you this," Caroline added with a small step forward, a folded piece of paper in her grasp.

Klaus hesitated a moment before taking it, but he couldn't bear to read it now, so he shoved it into his pocket. "Elijah was always there…Who will keep me in check? Who will…?"

He felt hands grab his. One was his daughter's and one was Caroline's. Neither spoke, and neither needed to.

It was simply the end of one story and the beginning of another.


End file.
